Gilmore Beginnings
by Nerin
Summary: Rory Gilmore enters the world, and Lorelai Gilmore exits the Gilmore residence.
1. Flight

"You have a beautiful baby girl, Miss Gilmore."

Lorelai blinked blearily at the nurse, her brain struggling for comprehension. The cheerful woman placed a writhing, crying bundle next to her, and Lorelai turned her head. Blue eyes met identical blue eyes, and the baby stopped crying. Mother and daughter stared at each other for a few eternal seconds until the nurse came to take the baby to the nursery.

"Goodbye, sweets," Lorelai whispered before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Emily Gilmore stood in front of the large window, staring at the tiny Baby Gilmore. The wide blue eyes. The shock of black hair. The delicately shaped nose and the busy little hands.

"Emily."

"She looks just like her," Emily whispered to her husband as he came up behind her. "She's beautiful."

"How is Lorelai?"

"Asleep. They'll let us know when she wakes up…" Emily's voice caught in her throat.

"Emily…"

She walked away and sank onto a hard plastic chair. So young. A grandmother at not-quite-forty. Her beautiful, brilliant, black-haired Lorelai was a mother at sixteen. No Yale. No high school graduation. Anger swelled up inside her. But for Christopher, this would never have happened. That little hoodlum with his leather jacket and his motorcycle…

"Mrs. Gilmore, Miss Gilmore is waking up."

* * *

Lorelai stared into her daughter's electric blue eyes.

_Lorelai Leigh Gilmore. Why shouldn't I name you after me? Men name boys after themselves. Besides…_ little Lorelai yawned and older Lorelai's heart squeezed, …_you're mine. All mine. And I'm yours. Forever._

"Lorelai?"

Lorelai looked up, and Emily's heart contracted in pain. Fierce maternal pride and womanly knowledge shone out of a face too young to know what maternal pride was.

"Mom," she said. "Meet your granddaughter. Lorelai Leigh Gilmore." She held the baby out to her, and Emily took her, staring into her serious eyes.

"Hello, Lorelai," she whispered, blinking back tears. "Welcome."

After a few moments she placed the baby on the bed next to her daughter. She reached out and carefully brushed a strand of dark hair off Lorelai's forehead.

"She looks exactly like you," Emily said quietly.

"She has Christopher's ears, I think," Lorelai answered. "Lucky kid."

"Hello, Lorelai."

Lorelai looked up at her father, who looked stiff and uncomfortable.

"Hi, Dad," she said timidly. "Is…Christopher here yet?"

"No. He's not," Richard said shortly.

"Oh."

Emily picked up young Lorelai. "Here, Richard. Meet Lorelai Leigh Gilmore." She placed the tiny bundle in her grandfather's awkward arms. His face softened, and he stood there silently gazing for a long time.

"You aren't going to _call_ her Lorelai, are you?" Emily asked carefully.

"No," Lorelai answered, never taking her eyes off her father smitten with his granddaughter. "I'm going to call her Rory. My Rory."

* * *

"There is no reason why you can't go to school and let Gretel take care of Rory, Lorelai," Emily snapped as Lorelai clutched the infant to her, glaring at the maid.

"I don't _want_ to go. I _want_ to stay home with my baby."

"Lorelai, now is not the time to be stubborn. You need to think about your future."

"I am! I am thinking about Rory. _She_ is my future. I want to stay with her."

"I will not let you become a drop-out, Lorelai."

"I am not a kid, anymore, Mom. I _have_ a kid. Stop trying to control me, for God's sake!"

"I'm your mother. That's my job. As long as you are here, you will do as I say."

Lorelai met her eyes, unflinching and determined. "Fine."

The bed was made. The closet was empty. A note on the pillow…

_Mom and Dad,  
__I will let you know when I get where I'm going. I won't be back. Rory loves you.  
__Lorelai_

It was hard to breathe. The rain was pouring. And her daughter and granddaughter – the two most precious things she owned – were out there. Alone. Wet. Homeless.

She screamed for Richard; she ran out of the room and down the stairs. She found him in the study, grabbed his coat.

"Gone, Richard! They're gone! Get the car, please, for the love of God!"

"Emily, stop," Richard said, gripping her shoulders. "Who is gone?"

"Our babies," Emily gasped, gulping air. "She's gone, they're gone, they're out there, and God only knows where – kidnappers and hitchhikers and, dammit, Richard, _do_ something!"

Richard was pale as he led his nearly hysterical wife out to the car. They drove for hours. No sign of Lorelai and Rory. Anywhere.

Emily suddenly let out a strangled cry. "Richard, we have to go home, we have to home now. She said she would call, what if she calls and we aren't there, turn around, turn around now!"

They ran into the house and Emily grabbed Gretel. "Has Miss Lorelai called? Has she called?"

"N-no, ma'am," gulped the maid.

"Dammit," Emily whimpered, slumping onto the sofa.

The phone rang. She dove for it.

"Lorelai? Please, God, Lorelai?"

"Hi, Mom," said her daughter's voice, tired and young and far away.

Tears streamed down Emily's cheeks. "You're alive."

"I'm fine, Mom. I'm safe, I'm warm, I'm dry, and so is Rory."

"Where are you?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"Lorelai, come home. Stop being so dramatic."

"I can't come home. Rory and I have to be on our own. I promise we'll keep in touch."

"Lorelai, please…"

"I have to go, Mom. I'll call again soon."

The phone went dead. Emily sat on the sofa until Richard made her go upstairs to bed. She lay there, crying silently, thinking of her daughter and her granddaughter and that hideously empty bedroom down the hall and the horrible aching pain in her chest.

She didn't get up for a month.

A/N: My first story here. Should I continue? Please RnR!


	2. Phone Calls and Visits

Her daughter's shrill cry tore through Lorelai's dreams and she struggled towards consciousness. As much as she loved sleep, there was a tiny human being in a little crib who needed her. That was what her life was about now. She was always second, and Rory was always first. She pulled the tiny baby out of the crib and cradled her, nursing her.

She was so completely helpless, trusting, delicate. Her porcelain hand wrapped itself around one of Lorelai's fingers and gripped hard while she nursed peacefully. Lorelai had never felt so many emotions at once: adoration for the precious creature in her arms, a fierce desire to protect her with her own life, and an overwhelming fear that no matter how hard she tried, she would mess everything up somehow.

They'd been on their own for a little over a month, now. The little shed that served as their apartment could have fit inside her parents' living room. Lorelai, however, would never complain. Mia, the plucky owner of the Independence Inn, had taken her in after only a moment's hesitation and given her a job as a maid. Lovely little Rory had instantly won the woman's heart, and she insisted on keeping Rory with her in the office while Lorelai went on her rounds.

They were poor. Sometimes Lorelai broke into a sweat trying to figure out how they were going to eat the next day. Mia taught her how to sew, and it was much cheaper just to make clothes for herself and Rory than to buy them. Her mother would have a fit if she knew that her daughter counted pennies for food and sewed her own clothes, but Lorelai had never been happier.

She had not heard from Christopher. He'd hardly been around during the pregnancy and had only shown up at the hospital hours after Rory's birth; to be fair, she was very much _persona non grata_ with his parents, and they kept him too busy to spend any decent amount of time with her. Still, if he was grown up enough to father Rory, he was grown up enough to stand up to his mommy and daddy every now and then.

Lorelai sighed and pulled Rory away. Rory smacked her little lips a couple of times, and then proceeded to fall asleep again. As Lorelai tucked her back into her little crib, the baby let out a tiny sigh and shifted under the covers. Lorelai leaned over and kissed her gently. "Sweet dreams, precious."

* * *

"I've finished room twelve, Mia," Lorelai said, poking her head into the office. 

"Wonderful, Lorelai," Mia smiled. "You know, if you worked a little more slowly you might get along with the other maids better."

Lorelai made a face. "I don't want to get along with the other maids. They say rude things when they see Rory, and it's very hard not to just beat them up for treating her like she's anything but the most gorgeous thing in the world."

"Parents are very protective of their children," Mia said, looking pointedly at her. "Which reminds me: it's Tuesday."

Lorelai groaned. "Mia, no."

"Lorelai, however badly things were between you and your parents, we had a deal."

"I know, I know, call Mom and Dad once a week, got it. But can't I skip this week? I have a huge headache."

"You most certainly cannot skip this week."

"All they'll say is 'Lorelai, come home,' and I'll say 'But I am home,' and they'll say that a hotel is not a home, and we'll hang up angry. It doesn't help anything."

"Not for you, maybe," Mia said firmly. "But if I were your mother, and you had left the safety of my home, I would live for these phone calls."

* * *

Emily lived for these phone calls. Every Tuesday around five o'clock she could be found on her armchair next to the telephone, willing it to ring. Sometimes, depending on Lorelai's work load, the call came a little later, and then Emily grew restless, thinking that perhaps she wasn't going to call at all. But she always did. 

Judging from Lorelai's reticence during the calls, Emily knew that they weren't her idea, and that left to herself, she might never have called the Gilmore residence again. It was one thing that Emily was forced to thank that woman Mia for, even if she still burned with resentment at the thought that she, and not Emily, would have the joy and privilege of watching Rory grow up.

The phone rang.

"Lorelai?"

"Hi, Mom. How are you?"

_Every day I wake up and you aren't here I die a little more._ "I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'm good."

Long pause.

"So I found out that I can take my GED in March. Then it'll be just like graduating high school."

"Well, that's a relief."

"Most jobs won't take you without at least a GED or diploma."

"I know."

Another pause.

"Rory tried to roll over the other day. She's getting so big."

_And every day that precious childhood slips away from you both and I don't even get to watch it happen_. "That's wonderful."

"One minute, Mom." Sounds of a distant conversation. Lorelai gave into something. "Mom? Do you – do you and Dad want to come see us?"

Emily couldn't breathe. "See you? And Rory?"

"Yeah. Come for a visit. Friday. Mia will put you up with a room."

"Mia will be there?"

"No, she has to go out of town for a conference. You can stay in her room for a night or two. No charge."

"That's very…generous of her."

"Yeah, she's great."

"You do realize that now I'll know where you live."

"Yes, Mom. I realize that."

"Well, I'll have to ask your father, of course, but I'm sure he'll have no objection."

"Okay, well…I'll tell Mia you're coming."

"All right."

"I'll see you Friday. Bye, Mom."

"Tell Rory I love her."

"I will."

"Goodbye."

* * *

"Nice, isn't it?" Lorelai said proudly, leading her parents through the lobby. Richard, after a brief and dignified struggle with Emily, had gained possession of his granddaughter and showed no sign of relinquishing her anytime soon. "Mia's been running it on her own for a long time." 

"It is rather charming," Emily said shortly. "So you and Rory live here, do you?"

"Yes, Mia takes the rent out of my pay."

"Do you have a financial paper here, Lorelai?" Richard suddenly asked. "I want to check on the Dow."

"Oh – sure, Dad. Go ask behind the counter."

Richard handed Rory to Emily, and as he walked away she and Lorelai sat in the comfortable armchairs that were placed in the sitting room.

"You've managed to keep yourself alive," Emily said rather stiffly. "Have you finished proving yourself? Are you ready to come home?"

Lorelai sighed and studied her hands clasped in her lap. "Mom, I'm not coming back to Hartford. This isn't just a little trip I took to scare you."

"Hmph."

"It's not," Lorelai insisted, her voice quiet. "Mom, I like it here. I like it a lot. I'm a good worker, and Mia says that in a few years I can be assistant manager if I keep improving like I have been. Of course, I'll need my GED, but I can do that."

"So you're never coming back? Just like that? And all your father and I will receive are a phone call every week and occasionally an off-hand invitation to come and visit you?"

"No. I want to see you on holidays, and you and Dad are welcome to come visit anytime you want. But I won't move back. I'm sorry, but I've made my decision."

"I don't understand why you're being so stubborn," Emily snapped. "You could still have everything you were meant for. We could place Rory in day care and you could finish high school and go to Yale just like we'd planned."

"Mom, I will never send my kid to day care. I love her more than anything and I can't stand not being around her. She's my life." She paused. "You never sent me to day care. Why would you make me do that to Rory?"

"I was older than you are now. I had a husband and a home and financial stability. You have a family willing to help you, Lorelai, and you're throwing it all away to live like one of those welfare mothers!"

"I appreciate that you want to help me," Lorelai argued. "I do. But if I let you help me, I would also have to let you control me, because that's how you are. You don't just belong to any of your society groups, you're on the boards. You wouldn't want to just be involved in my life, you'd want to be on the board of directors, and I don't work like that."

"So you're cutting me out completely? What about when Rory grows up – will you teach her to hate us as well?"

"Oh, stop it, Mom," Lorelai sighed. "I won't teach her to think anything about you. That's all up to you."

"Does this place serve dinner?" Richard asked, coming over. "I'm quite hungry."

"Yes, but I hope Sookie hasn't been in today," Lorelai answered, standing.

"Sookie?" Emily questioned.

"She's this girl my age who wants to be a chef someday. She's always in the kitchen bothering Jason, and she's a big klutz. Yesterday he actually picked her up and dumped her outside."

* * *

The next day, as they drove away from the inn, Emily watched the building and her daughter until she could no longer see them. 

"She wouldn't come home?" Richard asked quietly.

"No," she whispered.

It was a very quiet ride.

A/N: Don't expect every update to be this fast. I just had absolutely no writer's block this week, which is unusual. RnR!


	3. The Lorelais Grow UpSlowly

Emily picked up the ringing phone. "Hello?"

"Mom!" cried an excited Lorelai's voice. Emily blinked and checked her watch. It was three o'clock on a Friday. Why would she be calling…? "I did it! I took the GED test and I passed it!"

Emily pursed her lips. _Was that all?_ "That's good."

"Good? That's all you can say? I studied my butt off."

"Lorelai, you planned on going to Yale. You expect me to be thrilled over a high school diploma?"

Lorelai didn't answer for a second or two. "Fine, Mom. Just thought I'd share something with you. I won't make that mistake again. I'll talk to you on Tuesday. Bye."

* * *

"I knew it; I just knew it," Lorelai grumbled as she tossed mints onto the pillow carelessly. "Couldn't be happy for me even once…"

Rory sat on the bed, propped by the pillows, inspecting her toes with great interest. Lorelai sighed and sat next to her, giving her aching feet a rest. The inn had been chaotic that day: the rail on one of the staircases had broken after a guest roughly the size and weight of a full-grown bull had leaned heavily on it. He hadn't fallen, so there would be no lawsuit, but Mia was going crazy looking for someone to fix it. Mia's voice, mingling with another, rang down the hallway. Lorelai sighed, picked Rory up, balanced her on her hip, and pushed the cart out into the hall.

"This the spot, Mia?"

"That's it, dear. Can you do anything with it?"

"Oh, that's nothing. I'll have it better than new in no time."

"Thanks so much; make sure you tell your father we appreciate him sparing you."

"He practically pushed me out the door. It's not a problem, and I'm glad to help."

"Well, I'll just head down to the desk, then. Go into the kitchen for a sandwich or something when you're done."

"Sure."

Lorelai peeked around the corner. _Wow_. A boy a couple of years older than her stood near the top of the stairs. He was wearing tattered jeans, a white shirt under a red flannel shirt, and his messy hair was covered with a baseball cap. He was the exact opposite of Christopher, with his neat, curly brown hair and his impeccable clothes, but when Handy Man took off that flannel shirt to get to work on the banister, Lorelai couldn't help but approve. Her "Hot Guy" radar started bleeping, but she knew she couldn't afford to start anything with anyone right now. Hastily she turned and walked down the hall to another room.

* * *

"Ba!" Rory exclaimed.

Lorelai looked at her. "Did you say something, Rory?"

"Ba!" Rory said more loudly, throwing her chubby little arms in the air, her crystal eyes sparkling. "Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba!"

"Wow," Lorelai whispered, reaching out and stroking the silky-smooth black hair on her daughter's head. "You're getting _so_ big."

"Ba ba ba ba," Rory said softly to herself.

Lorelai leaned in closely, a small blanket in front of her face. She brought it down swiftly. "Boo!"

Rory blinked, and then giggled a gurgling laugh. Lorelai continued playing peek-a-boo, and when Rory was nearly breathless with laughter, Lorelai scooped her up and cradled her. Rory stared seriously at her mother for a few minutes, then suddenly waved her hands jerkily, her eyes wide. Lorelai laughed, and Rory grinned toothlessly, poking two fingers into her mouth.

* * *

"Ouch!" Lorelai exclaimed, pulling Rory away. "You little sucker! That hurt!"

Rory whimpered and reached out, but Lorelai kept her at a distance, studying her mouth.

"Teeth. Great," Lorelai sighed, slumping against the headboard.

The next day she walked into town. She'd rarely gone into Stars Hollow proper because Mia would usually pick things up for her, but today was special. It wasn't every day she got to buy her daughter's first teething ring.

Except there weren't any teething rings in Doose's Market. Of course.

"Need some help, sweetheart?"

Lorelai turned around and saw a woman who must once have been absolutely beautiful, but her strong features were fading. "Sure…I need a teething ring."

"Oh, goodness, what an awful time for your poor sister," the woman crooned, leaning over to peer at Rory in her stroller. "That baby will be miserable for weeks, and there's so little to do about it."

"Will she really?" Lorelai asked nervously.

"Oh, yes. But teething rings – my children all made do with teething _biscuits_, darling, and Thomas has plenty of those. Right over here."

The woman showed her the baby food aisle, and Lorelai exhaled in relief. "Wow, thanks…"

"Just call me Miss Patty, hon. Everyone does. Are you folks new in town?"

"Yes, we are," Lorelai said, studying the jars of baby food. _I should probably get more_… "We're out at the Independence Inn. I work for Mia."

"You work? Why, darling, you should be spending all your time cheerleading at the football games and dating the jocks! There's one young man who runs track – that was never my favorite sport, but he certainly fills out those shorts well. Why, you would be absolutely adorable together. I'll see if I can't work something out…"

"Oh, Miss Patty, that's okay, really," Lorelai interrupted hastily. "I _like_ to work. Honest I do. And anyway I don't go to the school here."

"You don't? Where do you go to school?"

"I don't go to school at all."

"Oh." Miss Patty looked as if she was digesting this information. "What do your parents think about…"

Lorelai sighed. "My parents aren't here."

Miss Patty raised an eyebrow.

Lorelai frowned slightly. "Not that it's anyone's business, but Rory is my daughter. Not my sister."

"Your daughter! How old are you, dear?"

"Seventeen," Lorelai grumbled. "I'm gonna go now. Bye."

"Bye, hon."

The story of the young maid and her daughter was all over Stars Hollow by nightfall.

* * *

Gray clouds gathered in bunches over the Independence Inn. Although it was only September, the air was crisp and cool and, to Lorelai, promised snow and other wonderful things. She hummed while she was making up the beds, smiled widely when the other maids sent her nasty looks, and danced Rory around their little bedroom until they were both dizzy. Lorelai flopped onto the floor and Rory pushed herself to sit up.

"It smells like snow," Lorelai whispered, and Rory reached out to touch her mother's nose.

"That's right. I smell it in my nose. Good things always happen when it snows. It snowed when you were born."

Rory paid her no attention. She had gotten to her hands and knees, hiked her little bottom in the air, and stood slowly. She wobbled a little on her feet, but she held herself steady. Lorelai's heart ached.

"You're growing up so fast."

Snowflakes began drifting down outside the window. Rory lifted one foot, teetered, and put it down again. Her little face screwed up in concentration as Lorelai held her breath. Rory carefully lifted the same foot and took a single step forward. Lorelai gave a sort of breathless scream and jumped into the air, startling Rory, who fell back on her diapered bottom with a thump and stared up at Lorelai with wide, serious eyes.

"You wonderful, genius baby!" Lorelai cried picking Rory up and swinging her around. "You walked! You walked! That's one small step for Rory Gilmore, one giant leap for…for…something! I don't know!"

Rory laughed.

"We'll call Grandma tomorrow and tell her," Lorelai promised.

Rory clapped her hands. "Gamma."

"Yes. Grandma. We'll tell her."

"Gamma!"

* * *

She didn't need an alarm clock to wake up. It was four-oh-three in the morning on the one-year anniversary of the most important night of her life. Who needs an alarm for that? Quietly she crawled out from under the covers and tiptoed over to Rory's crib, where the baby slept peacefully, her thumb anchored in her mouth.

Lorelai reached in and picked her up. Rory jerked a little, her little forehead wrinkled, and then she relaxed into Lorelai's embrace as Lorelai lay back down on the bed, her daughter beside her.

"God, you're precious," Lorelai whispered. "Happy birthday, sweets."

Rory yawned widely, but didn't wake up.

A whole year. How on earth had a single year flown by so effortlessly? Lorelai stroked Rory's hair.

"It's hard to believe," she whispered, "that at this same time, many moons ago, I was lying in exactly this position, except that I had a big fat stomach and ankles." Rory stirred, but Lorelai just smiled. "And I was swearing like a sailor on leave. There I was, in labor, and while some have called it the most meaningful experience of your life, to me it was something more akin to doing the splits on a crate of dynamite. And surrounded as I was by a hundred prominent doctors, I naturally assumed that there was an actual use for the cup of ice chips they gave me, but there wasn't. But pelting the nurses sure was fun."

Rory stirred again, and opened her eyes, looking at her mother with a bewildered expression on her face. Lorelai kissed her forehead. "The doctor down at the bottom said he could see your head, and I told him to get you out of me as fast as he could, and that maybe Vaseline would help. He didn't think it was very funny. So there I was, sweating and swearing and straining…and then you were there."

Lorelai paused, looking deep into the blue eyes that matched her own so identically. "They put you next to me in the bed. I was so tired and sore that I couldn't even hold you, but you were there. And you looked at me, and I looked at you, and I knew that this was it. Anything could have happened then and I wouldn't have cared, because you were there. You – you're my everything, Lorelai Leigh. I love you more than anything else in the entire world, and so help me God, you're going to love me just as much."

Rory yawned again and rolled over onto one side, falling back to sleep. Lorelai pulled the covers over both of them and drifted into dreams, her life in her arms.

_Finis._

_A/N: Thanks for all your support on this my first Gilmore Girls fanfiction venture. Stay tuned for more!_


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